Go Global talk series – United States

Presentation slides for the session:

The Technopreneurs Association of Malaysia, TeAM, will be organising global talk sessions on 8th October, 2010

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OBJECTIVE

The market in Malaysia is only a small fraction compare to many other developing or developed countries. Many ICT companies are looking to expand into another country, but are shy away from doing that due to uncertainty in foreign market product acceptance, market environment, company capability and sustainability, and many other reasons. As a reference, it would be great to see case studies of people who have hands on experience, learning their journey along the success or failure of the overseas market expansion.

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WHY SHOULD YOU ATTEND?

The sessions will feature two entrepreneurs with experience venturing in United States, a venture capital firm with a fund based in Silicon Valley, and a market research and consulting firm with vast expertise in overseas technology market and trend.

The entrepreneurs will share with all, 3 months before, and 3 months after, launching their business into United States. Attendees will learn from them what to look up for and what to avoid, which can help businesses to speed up its own expansion plan into United States. The venture capital firm will share about their experience selecting and investing in technology companies in Silicon Valley. The market research and consulting firm will provide the economic overview and technology outlook in the specific country, and specific sectors which technopreneurs could penetrate.

Mentorship and advisory sessions are available at the end of the session, by Sanjoy Bose and Ross Settles, seperately. Attendees could learn the resources available currently which they could leverage on for their immediate expansion plan. This is for pre-registered member only, first-come-first-serve basis. Please contact Wing Yew at wingyew@team.net.my to reserve a mentorship session, and inform which mentor you would like to meet with.

Settles is currently a Knight Fellow working with MalaysiaKini as a business and product development consultant. Knight Fellows are sponsored by the International Committee for Journalists (ICFJ) and the Knight Fellows to support the development of sustainable, independent media organizations.

Prior to working with MalaysiaKini, Settles managed the online business operations for Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post. Prior to SCMP, he directed marketing and business development efforts for Knight Ridder Digital, the online subsidiary of the second largest US newspaper publisher. During his tenure at Knight Ridder, Settles led efforts to invest in and implement strategies using new online technologies – social networking (Tribe Networks), vertical search (ShopLocal), news search and aggregation (Topix). Settles worked closely with local news and business operations to develop new business and distribution models for these new investments.

Before Knight Ridder, Settles led marketing and international development efforts for technology media company, Red Herring Communications. Settles began his work in the newspaper industry at Times Mirror where he ran marketing for The Baltimore Sun and led product development for Times Mirror’s online subsidiary.

Settles joined Times Mirror from the Open Society Institute-funded Open Media Research Institute (OMRI) in Prague. As publisher at OMRI, Settles oversaw commercial operations for this provider of independent reporting and analysis of developments in Central, Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.

Settles has spent a decade working and studying in China and East Asia. He speaks, reads and writes Mandarin Chinese. Settles holds a MBA from the University of Chicago and AB in East Asian Studies from Princeton University.

Both launched the product in United States recently, and has an office in Plug and Play Tech Center, Sunnyvale, California

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Terry J. Sorgi

Commercial Attache, Embassy of The United States of America, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Terry Sorgi, a native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, joined the Commercial Service of the U.S. Department of Commerce in 1978 as an International Trade Specialist in the Indianapolis, Indiana District Office. In 1983, he was promoted to Senior International Trade Specialist responsible for the Tulsa, Oklahoma Branch Office. In 1990, he transferred to the International Operations of the Commercial Service. He has served in Lagos, Nigeria; Dubai, The United Arab Emirates; Mexico City, Mexico; The Hague, The Netherlands; Santo Domingo, The Dominican Republic; and Calgary, Canada prior to assuming his present duties in Kuala Lumpur.

Mr. Sorgi has a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, and a Master of International Management, M.I.M., from The Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Prior to joining the Commerce Department, Mr. Sorgi held positions in banking and finance in the private sector.

Mr. Sorgi has received numerous awards for his work from both the U.S. Government and private sector, including the U.S. Department of Commerce’s highest award, The Gold Medal.

Mr. Sorgi served in the U.S. Air Force from 1967-71, including tours in Vietnam, The Philippines and Thailand. He is married and has two daughters.

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Sreekantha

President, Buzznet

Sreekantha is the President of Buzznet Sdn Bhd., Malaysia (www.buzznetlabs.com). Sreekantha was involved in the start up of Buzznet in KL in 2001, providing software development services to clients globally. Buzznet services include product development for ISV’s, as well as software development services to several industries including high technology, software, Internet, banking and consumer products. Sreekantha manages the complete operations of Buzznet.

Sreekantha has been in the software industry for 24 years and has managed and implemented more than 100 turnkey solutions for clients in India, Malaysia, US, Australia and UK.

Sreekantha is a technopreneur and has spent his entire career working for start up companies. He has worked in 5 companies including one company he founded and managed it for 3 years from 1998-2001 before moving to Buzznet.

In 1987, he joined Inventa Corporation, a leading, privately held systems integration firm. Inventa was one of the earliest companies which provided internet based Ecommerce solutions to Global 2000 companies. Sreekantha was with Inventa for 11 years. He started as a Marketing Executive and moved up the rank and file on to start and become the Managing Director of Inventa Malaysia in 1993. He successfully ran Inventa Malaysia for 5 years. During this period he was involved in managing Finance, Sales and Marketing, HR and Project Management activities.

Sreekantha holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Electronics & Communications) from Mysore University, and an MBA in Marketing from Newport University.

Note: While every effort has been made to ensure that the programme outlined above is accurate at the time of printing, TeAM reserves the right to alter the programme depending on circumstances.

Disclaimer: TeAM and the organising parties make no guarantee as to the accuracy or completeness of any information, views and comments made at or in relation to the talk. All information provided and views and comments rendered during the sessions are provided in good faith and TeAM and the presenters are specifically excluded from any and all liability or responsibility whatsoever for any error, omission, consequence, damage, cost and/or loss arising from the reliance on the same by participants. All participants are encouraged to seek alternative opinions. TeAM hereby disclaims all liability in respect of all information provided and comments made therein.

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A GEW event

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